Northport woman, the mother of University of Alabama basketball player, charged in kidnapping

Thursday

May 2, 2013 at 7:41 PM

A woman who recently moved to Northport has been charged with kidnapping a young girl from her elementary school in Kemper County, Miss., earlier this week.

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

A woman who recently moved to Northport has been charged with kidnapping a young girl from her elementary school in Kemper County, Miss., earlier this week.Jesse Mae Brown Pollard, 54, has been accused of kidnapping Jashayla Hopson, 6, from her elementary school in Scooba, Miss. on Tuesday.Pollard is the mother of University of Alabama basketball player Devonta Pollard, who was a McDonald's All-American coming out of high school and a five-star recruit. Former teacher Jesse Pollard recently moved to Northport from Porterville, Miss., to be near her son, according to the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger. Authorities arrested Pollard at her home in Northport Wednesday, a day after an AMBER alert was issued for the girl. The alert was displayed on electronic message boards that span Interstate 359 in Tuscaloosa.According to Mississippi authorities, Jashayla knocked on a door in Lauderdale County Wednesday afternoon. The resident did not know Jashayla, but knew she had been reported missing from neighboring Kemper County. The girl was unharmed, but examined at a hospital in Meridian. According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Pollard had been in an argument with the girl's mother. Media reports identified Jashayla's mother as Pollard's cousin.The AMBER Alert was issued after a woman took the girl from her elementary school on Tuesday afternoon. Her parents called police when she was not on the bus that afternoon.The girl's mother later received a text message stating “don't call the police I will call you later if you call the police u wont see her again,” according to the affidavit. Investigators learned that the phone used had been purchased at a Bessemer Walmart that afternoon. Surveillance video from the Walmart showed a woman investigators identified as Pollard buying the Samsung T-139 there at 3:24 p.m.Jashayla's mother received a hang-up phone call from the number shortly after, the affidavit stated. Latitude and longitude information indicated that the call was placed at the Walmart.Investigators said that Pollard then used her credit card to pay for a room at the Best Western hotel in Bessemer, where surveillance cameras captured the woman walking with the girl in a hallway and leaving in a gold or tan Cadillac Deville. The investigators wrote that the vehicle belonged to Pollard's son, and that they searched it with his consent at her house in Northport. They found the hotel key and a receipt for the cell phone.The investigators stated that other people were in the car with Pollard on Tuesday afternoon. Others could be arrested, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.Pollard, who faces a federal kidnapping charge after being accused of taking the girl across state lines, was denied bond at a hearing Wednesday. She could face up to 20 years to life in prison if convicted.Sophomore Devonta Pollard, a 6-foot-8 forward, started eight games for Alabama in 2012-13 as a freshman, averaging 3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.